Air-Conditioner Unit and Method of Conveying the Same

ABSTRACT

A housing capable of being carried into an elevator cage and turned with ease even in the elevator cage having a narrow frontage is provided. A housing  1  is configured to have a dimension A of a first face narrower than an effective doorway dimension a of an elevator cage  20 , and a dimension B of a second face wider than an effective depth b of the elevator cage  20 , and corner portions are chamfered in an up and down direction, and the chamfered dimension X is set to a value obtained by subtracting the effective depth b of the elevator cage  20  from the dimension B of the second face. Further, the corner portions may be chamfered in a same shape. In addition, each of the corner portions is chamfered to have an angle of approximately  45  degrees in relation to an adjoining surface.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a housing capable of being conveyed,such as, for example, an outdoor unit of an air conditioner, utilizingan elevator cage, and a method of conveying the housing.

BACKGROUND ART

For example, in a case that an outdoor unit of an air conditioner isinstalled on a rooftop of a building, the outdoor unit is conveyed tothe roof top utilizing an existing elevator cage that is previouslyinstalled in the building. However, in a case of an outdoor unit havinga rectangular plane shape, when the outdoor unit is conveyed by beingcarried into the elevator cage, an end face side of the outdoor unit isrestricted by a dimension of a doorway of the elevator cage, and a rearface side of the outdoor unit is restricted by a depth dimension of theelevator cage. Accordingly, so as to accommodate an outdoor unit, inwhich a certain dimension or more is preferably ensured for its shorterface side and the longer face side, in an ordinary elevator cage havingnarrow dimensions of a frontage and a depth, the outdoor unit is triedto be accommodated in the elevator cage by means of inserting theshorter face side of the outdoor unit into the elevator cage through thedoorway, and then turning the same in the elevator cage. However, inmany cases, since a corner portion of the outdoor unit is caught by aninternal wall of the elevator cage, the outdoor unit cannot be turnedand thereby the outdoor unit cannot be loaded in the elevator cage afterall. Consequently, the outdoor unit has to be conveyed by hoisting thesame from the rooftop using a crane or the like. As a result, the craneitself has to be arranged and thereby a large-scale conveying work isrequired resulting in enormous conveying cost and a long deliveryperiod.

Therefore, a technique for conveying the outdoor unit, in which adimension of the outdoor unit is reduced to a dimension smaller thanthat of the frontage of the elevator cage by dismantling the partsprovided on a side face of the outdoor unit at a time of conveyance, sothat the outdoor unit can be conveyed even in an elevator cage having anarrow frontage, is disclosed (refer to, for example, the PatentDocument 1).

Paten Document Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.08-35690 (See page 2 through 4, and FIG. 4)

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

According to the technique described in the Patent Document 1, the partsprovided on a side face of the outdoor unit have to be dismantled whenthe outdoor unit of an air conditioner is carried into an elevator cagehaving a narrow frontage, and therefore much work is required every timewhen carrying into the elevator cage.

The present invention is made in light of solving the above-describedproblems and it is an object of the present invention to provide ahousing capable of easily being carried even into an elevator cagehaving a narrow frontage, and a method of conveying the same.

Means for Solving the Problems

A housing of the present invention is a housing having a dimension of afirst face narrower than an effective doorway dimension of an elevatorcage, and a dimension of a second face wider than an effective depth ofthe elevator cage, and the housing is accommodated within the elevatorcage while turning the same by means of chamfering a corner portion ofthe housing in an up and down direction. The chamfering dimension is setto a value obtained by subtracting a depth dimension of the elevatorcage from the dimension of the second face of the housing.

Advantages

Since a housing can be carried into an elevator cage using existingfacilities, saving of labor at a time of conveyance can be increased anda conveying cost can be reduced. Further, a delivery period forinstallation can be reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an exploded condition of anoutdoor unit of an air conditioner, according to a first embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view illustrating the outdoor unit,according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view illustrating an elevator cage,according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic drawing illustrating a relationship between achamfering dimension of the outdoor unit and an area of the outdoorunit, according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view illustrating a relationship between acorner chamfering dimension of a heat exchanger unit and a bent of theheat exchanger unit, according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of operation, according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of operation, according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of operation, according to the firstembodiment; and

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of operation, according to the firstembodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an exploded condition of anoutdoor unit of an air conditioner, which is an example of a housingaccording to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional planview illustrating a main part of an assembled condition of FIG. 1, andFIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view illustrating an elevator cage.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the outdoor unit of the air conditioner isconstituted by approximately rectangular solid-shaped housing 1, andstanding columns 2 are provided at four corners of the housing 1, and anupper face 3 and an upper face frame 4 are provided at an upper part ofthe standing columns 2. In addition, a fan 5 is attached to the upperface 3, and a resin made fan cover 6 is attached in a manner so as tocover the fan 5 and the upper face frame 4.

A heat exchanger unit 11 having approximately U-shaped cross-section,whose corner portion is formed of a curved shape, which is provided in astanding-manner on a bottom face 10 is installed in an inner part of thehousing 1 (hereinafter, an opening portion side of the U-shaped heatexchanger unit is referred to as a front face, a side opposite to theopening portion is referred to as a rear face, and each of sidescorresponding to both arms is referred to as a side face.). Further, acontrol box 12 is provided at an upper part of the housing 1, and amachine room 13 is provided at a lower part thereof in a manner so as tobe surrounded by the heat exchanger unit 11, and a compressor 14 and thelike are disposed in the machine room 13.

Incidentally, since the fan cover 6 covers an outside of the upper faceframe 4, and prevents the outdoor unit from getting bruised at the timewhen the outdoor unit is turned in the elevator cage, the fan cover 6actually constitutes the maximum dimension of an outer periphery of theoutdoor unit. Further, the fan cover 6 is a molded product of resinmaterial, and is configured for both an internal wall of the elevatorcage and the outdoor unit not to be damaged, even at the time when thelatter collides with the former.

In each of the standing columns 2 of the housing 1, a chamfered portion7 where the corner portion of the standing column 2 is cut out in thesame shape in an up and down direction of the standing column 2 isprovided, and the chamfered portion 7 is chamfered to form an angle ofapproximately 45 degrees in relation to an adjoining surface of thehousing 1, namely, is chamfered to have a cross-section of approximatelya right-angled triangle shape. Further, the outdoor unit is configurednot to interfere with the internal wall of the elevator cage by means ofthe chamfered portion 7 when being turned to be accommodated within theelevator cage.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the dimension of the shorter face sideof the outdoor unit (for example, the depth A from a front face side ofthe housing 1 to a rear face side) is approximately the same as aneffective dimension a of the doorway (described later) in a widthdirection of an elevator cage 20, and the dimension of the longer faceside (for example, a width B between the side faces of the outdoor unit)is approximately equal to b+X, in which b is defined by an effectivedepth of the elevator cage 20 (described later) and X is defined by adimension of the chamfered portion 7. Further, the dimension X of thechamfered portion can be changed within an area that does not interferewith the bent R of the heat exchanger unit 11. Furthermore, although theshorter face side of the outdoor unit is defined as the depth and thelonger face side of the same is defined as width in the explanationdescribed above, the shorter face side of the outdoor unit may bedefined as width, and the longer face side may be defined as depth.

The elevator cage 20 has a doorway 21 at the front face thereof, and thedoorway is configured to open and close in a left and right direction bymeans of a door 22. An internal dimension of the elevator cage 20 isdefined as c for the width, e for the depth, and d for the doorway.Usually, in a case that large sized devices and equipment are conveyedby the elevator basket 20, the internal wall of the elevator cage 20 isguarded by concrete panels, or the like, so as not to be bruised.However, when a guarding thickness of the elevator cage 20 forconveyance is calculated, for example, 10 mm, in this case, and inconsideration of this guarding thickness, effective dimension a of thedoorway of the elevator cage 20 is found to be a value obtained bysubtracting 10 (mm) times 2 from the dimension d of the doorway, and aneffective depth b of the elevator cage 20 is found to be a valueobtained by subtracting 10 (mm) times 2 from the depth e of the elevatorcage 20. In other words, the depth A of the outdoor unit equals theeffective dimension a of the elevator cage 20, and the side-face width Bof the outdoor unit equals a sum of the effective depth b of theelevator cage 20 plus the dimensions X of the chamfered portions 7.

Incidentally, as described above, since the fan cover 6 of the outdoorunit constitutes the maximum dimension of the outer periphery of theoutdoor unit, the dimension of the depth A and width B of the outdoorunit is determined on the basis of the dimension of the depth and widthof the fan cover 6.

In the aforementioned elevator cage 20, the elevator for generalpassenger use with a capacity of six passengers (P6CO) regulated byJISA4301 has the minimum size in Japan (in this case, each of theinternal dimensions of the elevator cage 20 is 1400 mm in width c, 850mm in depth e, and 800 mm in dimension d of the doorway, respectively).In such an elevator cage 20, an outdoor unit having a width wider thanthe effective depth b of the elevator cage 20 is brought to be rotatablein the elevator cage 20, by chamfering the corner part of the outdoorunit, and workers can convey the outdoor unit while riding the elevatorcage 20 together.

At this moment, it is natural that a limit in the height directionshould be discussed, however, the outdoor unit described in the presentembodiment has a sufficiently allowable height dimension and thereforthe present embodiment does not describe the limit in the heightdirection. However, since the height of the doorway is set down to be2000 mm at the minimum in the aforementioned Japanese IndustrialStandard, this dimension is a rough standard in the height direction.

That is, in a case that the outdoor unit is conveyed by theaforementioned elevator cage 20 (JISA4301), since the dimension d of thedoorway of the elevator cage 20 is set to 800 mm, the effectivedimension a of the doorway is obtained to be 780 mm, which is d minus 10(mm) times 2, and since the depth e of the elevator cage 20 is set to850 mm, the effective depth b is obtained to be 830 mm, which is e minus10 (mm) times 2. In this case, even when the side-face width B of theoutdoor unit equals 830+X mm, the outdoor unit can be accommodated inthe elevator cage 20 by turning it when the depth A of the outdoor unitequals 780 mm. That is, in general, since the outdoor unit is protrudedfrom the elevator cage 20, the outdoor unit cannot be accommodated inthe elevator cage 20. However, the outdoor unit is accommodated whilebeing turned, by means of chamfering. This plane dimension is adimension value in which an outdoor unit of a 10-horsepower class airconditioner, which has the most number of installations can bemanufactured, and the outdoor unit can be conveyed by the elevator cage20.

The following formula shows a relationship between a plane area of theoutdoor unit defined as M (m²) and the depth of the unit defined as A(mm), the effective depth of the elevator cage 20 defined as b (mm), andthe chamfered dimension defined as X (mm).

M=A×(b+X)−(X ²/2)×4

At this moment, A×(b+X) indicates the square part and (X²/2)×4 indicatesthe cut out part of the corner portion. Accordingly,

$\begin{matrix}{{M = {{{- 2}\mspace{14mu} X^{2}} + {A\; X} + {Ab}}}\mspace{14mu}} \\{= {{{- 2}\mspace{14mu} \left( {X - {A/4}} \right)^{2}} + {Ab} + {A^{2}/8}}}\end{matrix}$

At this moment, the width B of the unit is expressed by B=b+X.

Accordingly, when the X=A/4, i.e., X become ¼ times depth dimension A ofthe unit, the plane area M reaches maximum as indicated by Ab+A²/8.

In the minimum sized elevator cage 20 according the standard, JISA4301,when the dimension b is set to 830 mm and the dimension A becomes 780 mmat the maximum, the relationship between the dimension X (mm) of thechamfered portion of the outdoor unit and the plane area M (mm²) of theoutdoor unit is expressed by a diagrammatic drawing in FIG. 4. Asillustrated in the figure, when the chamfered dimension X is set to 195mm, the plane area of the outdoor unit can be increased by 12% comparedto the case that the chamfered portion is not provided, and thereby aheat exchanger unit 11 and a refrigerant circuit parts having highcapabilities can be mounted. In other words, when the width of theoutdoor unit is set to 1025 mm and the chamfered dimension is set to 195mm, the plane area reaches 0.7234 m², as the maximum value.

The above-described is a theoretically calculated value that is madewithout adding a structure in the internal portion of the housing. Asdescribed earlier, it is a premise that the corner chamfered dimension Xdoes not interfere the bent R of the heat exchanger unit, and aclearance of 30 mm between each of the standing columns 2 attached tothe corner portions and the heat exchanger unit 11 is required as aspace for inserting hands when the outdoor unit is carried into theelevator cage.

Further, in the case where the bent R of the heat exchanger unit 11 inFIG. 5 is increased, the chamfered dimension X can be increased and theplane area of the outdoor unit can be enlarged until 195 mm. However, ina case where the bent R is increased, the area of the heat exchangerunit 11 itself is decreased and thereby a required area cannot beobtained. Accordingly, the bending work for the heat exchanger 11 ispreferably performed to form a bent R as smaller as possible. Other thanthe above, in consideration of the clearance between the heatingexchanger unit 11 and the standing columns 2, an appropriate chamfereddimension X for the heat exchanger unit of the present embodiment is 50mm.

Namely, when the chamfered dimension X is set to 195 mm, this valueresults in the maximum plane area. Therefore, the above-described valueis one of objectives when designing a large sized device and facilities.

However, in a case of the air conditioner, a design of the heatexchanger unit or an arrangement of parts of the refrigerant circuit isnaturally restricted, and further the design of appearance has to bealso considered. Further, in consideration of conveying workability, thechamfered dimension X is preferably not less than 50 mm. Furthermore, inconsideration of the workers riding together, the side-face width B ofthe outdoor unit is preferably not more than 1000 mm.

According to the reason described above, following numeric values areconsidered as the dimensions of the air conditioner. That is, theside-face width exceeds 830 mm and is about 1000 mm (in a case that theconveying workers do not ride, the width can be set to not less than1000 mm), the depth is not more than 780 mm, the chamfer is about 50 mm(however, when the capability of the heat exchanger unit is sufficient,a greater numeric value is more preferable.), and the height is not morethan 2000 mm. In other words, so as to obtain an effective and a maximumplane area of the outdoor unit under condition of certain dimensions ofthe elevator cage 20, it is effective to set the dimension values, suchthat the dimension of the shorter face side is closer to the dimensionof the doorway of the elevator basket 20, and the dimension of thelonger face side exceeds the depth of the elevator cage 20.

Next, operation for turning the outdoor unit satisfying theabove-described conditions in the elevator cage 20 and conveying thesame is explained. As shown in FIG. 6, the outdoor unit is moved towardthe doorway of the elevator cage 20 first. Usually, the outdoor unit isconveyed by mounting it on a hand truck for conveyance, having universalcasters, which is smaller than the outer peripheral face of the outdoorunit.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the outdoor unit is carried into the elevatorcage 20 straight from the doorway 21 of the elevator cage 20. At thismoment, since the width B between the side-faces of the outdoor unit isequal to the chamfered dimension added to the effective depth b of theelevator basket 20, i.e., b+X, the side face of one side of the outdoorunit is protruded from the elevator cage 20. However, an inside edgeline 7 a of the chamfered portion 7 of the outdoor unit is positioned ata portion inner than an internal wall 20 a of the doorway 21 of theelevator cage 20 by 10 mm as a guarding thickness for the elevator cage20. Next, as shown in FIG. 8, when the outdoor unit is turned in adirection indicated by an arrow A, it turns without interference of thechamfered portion 7 of the outdoor unit on a front side of the doorway21 of the elevator cage 20 and on a rear side, and a part of the outdoorunit protruding from the elevator cage can be contained in the elevatorcage 20. Thus, the outdoor unit is turned by 90 degrees in the directionA.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, the outdoor unit after being turned is movedto one side of the elevator cage 20. When moving in a manner describedabove, a man who carries the outdoor unit can also ride in a spaceopposite to the outdoor unit.

According to the first embodiment, because the outdoor unit is enabledto be carried into and out from the elevator cage 20, while turning inthe elevator cage 20 by chamfering an interfering portion of the outdoorunit, for example, even the 10-horsepower class outdoor unit is broughtto be able to be conveyed by the existing elevator cage for generalpassenger use with a capacity of six passengers without using the craneor the like, and the worker can convey the outdoor unit while riding theelevator cage 20 therewith at this moment. As describe above, since theoutdoor unit is brought to be able to be conveyed to the roof top or thelike by means of existing facilities, a conveying cost can be reduced byachieving saving of labor at the time of conveyance, and the deliveryperiod for installation of the outdoor unit can be reduced. Further,since the corner portion of the outdoor unit is chamfered, a wideopening portion is obtained, so that the conveyer can easily get in orout from the elevator cage 20 without being caught by the cornerportion.

Incidentally, since the depth A of the outdoor unit is set to theeffective dimension a of the doorway of the elevator cage 20, and thewidth B between the side-faces of the outdoor unit is set to theeffective depth b of the elevator cage 20+chamfered dimension X, theconveyance performed using the elevator cage 20 is enabled even when thedimension of the outdoor unit in a width direction is increased by anextent of the chamfered dimension X at the corner part of the outdoorunit. Thus, even in a case of product having a large capacity, it can beconveyed by the elevator cage 20 when the above-mentioned condition issatisfied. That is, although the products larger than the depth of theelevator cage 20 and the doorway 21 cannot be conveyed in the past, theoutdoor unit can be conveyed by the elevator cage 20 by means of formingthe chamfered corner portion 7, even in a case of the outdoor unit ofthe 10-horsepower class.

Second Embodiment

Although the chamfered portion 7 of the outdoor unit is formed to havean angle of approximately 45 degrees in relation to the adjoining faceof the housing in the first embodiment, further to the above, anauxiliary chamfered portion (not shown) having an angle of 45 degreesrelative to the chamfered portion 7 is provided at standing edgeportions, 7 a and 7 b, at both sides of the chamfered portion 7 in thesecond embodiment. By thus constructing, the turn of the outdoor unit inthe elevator cage 20 at time of conveyance becomes easier.

Other construction, operation, and advantages are substantially the sameas that of the case described in the first embodiment, and theexplanation thereof is therefore omitted.

Third Embodiment

Although the chamfered portion 7 of the outdoor unit is formed to havean angle of approximately 45 degrees in relation to the adjoining faceof the housing in the first embodiment, the chamfered portion 7 isformed by rounding (not shown) in the second embodiment. By thusconstructing, the turn of the outdoor unit in the elevator cage 20 atthe time of conveyance becomes easier, and elasticity occurs in theturning characteristic.

Other construction, operation, and advantages are substantially the sameas that of the case described in the first embodiment, and theexplanation thereof is therefore omitted.

Further, although the chamfered dimension can be respectively set todifferent values, in that case, the outline dimension of the outdoorunit is limited by the minimum chamfered dimension. In other words, thisis because the portion interferes with an internal surface of theelevator cage 20.

Fourth Embodiment

In the fourth embodiment, a hand truck that occupies an area, smallerthan that of the bottom face of the outdoor unit (not shown), isdetachably attached to a lower portion of the outdoor unit so as tosmoothly turn the outdoor unit in the elevator cage 20 withoutinterference, when turning. As a result, a high conveyance capability ofthe outdoor unit can further be achieved.

Other construction, operation, and advantages are substantially the sameas that of the case described in the first embodiment, and theexplanation thereof is therefore omitted.

Fifth Embodiment

In the fifth embodiment, a roller (not shown) is detachably attached tothe chamfer portion 7, or the standing edge portions, 7 a and 7 b, atboth sides of the chamfered portion 7 so that the outdoor unit issmoothly turned, even when the outdoor unit touches the internal wall ofthe elevator cage 20, during turning in the elevator basket 20. Theroller can be detached after the turning operation.

Other construction, operation, and advantages are substantially the sameas that of the case described in the first embodiment, and theexplanation thereof is therefore omitted.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

In the aforementioned explanation, a case that the present invention isapplied to an outdoor unit of an air conditioner is illustrated.However, the present invention is not limited to that described above,and is able to be applied to other devices and facilities.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   -   1: housing    -   7.: chamfered portion    -   7 a: edge portion of the chamfered portion    -   7 b: edge portion of the chamfered portion    -   20: elevator cage    -   A: depth of the housing (dimension of a first face of the        housing)    -   B: width of the housing (dimension of a second face of the        housing)    -   a: effective dimension of a doorway of an elevator cage    -   b: effective dimension of a depth of the elevator cage    -   X: length of the chamfering portion (chamfering dimension)

1-6. (canceled)
 7. An air-conditioner unit, capable of being conveyed byan elevator cage, having side faces comprising a first face with adimension narrower than an effective doorway dimension of the elevatorcage, and a second face with a dimension wider than an effective depthdimension of the elevator cage, wherein a corner portion between thefirst face and the second face is chamfered by a chamfered dimensionwhich is larger than a value obtained by subtracting the effective depthdimension of the elevator cage from the dimension of the second face. 8.The air-conditioner unit according to claim 7, wherein the chamfereddimension is set within a range where the chamfered portion does notinterfere with bent portions of a heat exchanger arranged in theair-conditioner unit.
 9. The air-conditioner unit according to claim 7,wherein the chamfered dimension is uniform in an up and down direction.10. The air-conditioner unit according to claim 7, wherein the cornerportion is chamfered such that the chamfered portion is formed at anangle of approximately 45 degrees in relation to an adjoining side face.11. The air-conditioner unit according to claim 7, wherein the elevatorcage has an effective inside size with 1400 mm width and 850 mm depth,and an effective doorway dimension of 800 mm, the dimension of the firstface is set to 780 mm or less, and the dimension of the second face isset to more than 830 mm.
 12. The air-conditioner unit according to claim11, wherein the dimension of the second face is set to 1000 mm or less.13. A method of conveying an air-conditioner unit having a first sideface with a width narrower than an effective doorway dimension of anelevator cage, and a second side face with a width wider than aneffective depth dimension of the elevator cage, comprising the steps of:inserting the air-conditioner unit, whose corner portion between thefirst side face and the second side face is chamfered with a dimensionlarger than a value obtained by subtracting the effective depth of theelevator cage from the width of the second face, into the elevator cagefrom the doorway of the elevator cage; and carrying the air-conditionerunit into the elevator cage by turning the same at the time when an edgeportion on second face side of the chamfered portion, which is formedbetween the first side face and the second side face and protrudes fromthe doorway of the elevator cage, is positioned inside the elevatorcage.